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Beware of the Giant Roost from Chris Birch’s KTM 1190 ADV

 Chris Birch obliterates the trail during an extreme mud run to 'the Hut'.

Published on 05.10.2016

A remote lunch spot called “The Hut” in the middle of the jungle on the North Island of New Zealand is a favorite destination of highly skilled dirt bike riders. To get there you have to travel miles of nasty, deeply-rutted trails plastered in knee-deep mud. What seems like an impossible task riding a KTM 1190 Adventure R is nothing but a fun challenge for Extreme Enduro champ Chris Birch.

Chris enlists the help of friends Phil and Bryce, both Red Bull Romaniac Extreme Enduro veterans, who don’t seem too keen on the idea. And for a good reason, both riders are on lightweight two-stroke KTM 300 EXCs that weigh less than half the KTM 1190 Adventure R.

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The 150 horsepower (limited to 100 hp in Enduro Mode) 500+ pound KTM 1190 Adventure R would normally be a huge liability on the trail, but in the competent hands of Chris Birch, the big KTM turns into a giant roost machine. It’s a violent display of the bike’s awesome power as it instantly excavates the trail with every twist of the wrist. Cameraman, David Darcy, is a true lunatic for getting in range of Chris’ roost and pays the price at minute 4:40.

For much of the time, Chris manages the snotty terrain without assistance but sometimes the trail becomes too much to overcome and his friends go to work with shovels and ropes to maintain forward progress.

Amazingly, Chris makes it to lunch and back on what was an exhausting ride to say the least. And what’s more amazing is the fact that the KTM 1190 Adventure R returns to the trailhead unscathed, except for a dangling turn signal.

Thanks Chris Birch, for once again making us all aware what our big bikes are truly capable of!